The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Amos 4:13,
"He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, he who turns dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the earth— the Lord God Almighty is his name."
After cataloging the ways in which he had sought Israel's attention and not gotten it, the Lord now introduces himself. In chapter 4 the Lord speaks of the Israelite women as "cows" in the ways they have acted. He then tells the Israelites he had given them "empty stomachs", verse 6, withheld rain from them, ruining their harvest and driving their thirst, vs 7-9, struck their crops with blight, mildew and locusts, verse 9, sent plagues and the sword among them, verse 10, and had them overrun by their enemies, verse 11. At the end of enumerating each one of these attention-getters, the Lord declares, "yet, you have not returned to me".
As the Lord introduces himself, he tells them they best "prepare to meet your God, O Israel." A frightful position they have placed themselves in! The Lord tells them that he is the Creator. He is the One who formed the mountains, he is the One who reveals his thoughts to man, he is the One who turns dawn to darkness and he is the One who treads the "high places of the earth". His name? The Lord God Almighty!
The Lord wants his people to know him and desires their awareness of him. He knows that mankind has a deceptive and deceitful heart that strays and wanders from him. As he brings his kingdom into existence and establishes it for mankind to populate, he will take whatever steps he needs to pursue that agenda.
If I find it astonishing that Israel would stray from her God, I only need to look at myself and ask at the end of the day, how much of it did I give to the Lord? How big of a part of it did I share with him? How did I participate in his agenda today?
The Lord knows mankind all too well. He knows of our proclivity to wander and engage in all those things that have nothing to do with his purposes, his agenda for us. I am certain the Lord is engaged in our lives, as he was with the nation of Israel, to gain our attention, to draw us close to him, to engage us in his purposes, to come to know him in a way he wants us to.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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